Luxembourg Spying Scandal Threatens Juncker Government

Luxembourg faced the prospect of early elections being called on Wednesday, with a parliamentary debate about a spying scandal threatening to topple long-standing prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker's ruling coalition.

Juncker, who became prime minister in 1995 and is the European Union's longest serving head of government, is under scrutiny because of his alleged failure to curb abuse of power by the secret service.

The next parliamentary election is due in May 2014. However, it could be brought forward to October this year depending on the outcome of a marathon debate scheduled from 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) on Wednesday.

Luxembourg's parliament will review a report it commissioned on the security agency's illegal bugging of politicians, purchase of cars for private use and allegations it took payments and favours in exchange for access to local officials.

The report concluded that Juncker had limited control over the agency despite being the responsible minister and that he failed to inform either the parliamentary committee of control or justice authorities about its operations.